DreamBook Oracles

A few weeks ago I had the honor of facilitating a workshop called Dreambook Oracles: A Workshop for People of Color on Dreams, Poetry and the Deep Dark Future. A beautiful gathering of people converged, shared their dreams with each other, wrote poetry in honor of each others dreams and embodied the wisdom of our dream poems in beautiful choreographed performances. We trusted our bodies and our dreams to answer our deepest darkest question and we want to share the oracle we created with you right now. Our structure for this act of sharing is inspired by the practice of black communities keeping dreambooks as resources for playing the underground lottery referred to “as the numbers.”

Here is how you can participate:

Close your eyes (after you read this) and decide on your deepest darkest question. What do you really need to know for the breakthrough that you are having right now. You will know that it’s the right question if your breathing pattern changes, tears start to come or your body responds in any other way.

Now choose a number between one and fifteen.

Now find the poem below that matches your number and think about the insight it has for your question. (Or read the whole series of poems with special attention to your number.)

Dreambook Oracles (by the participants in the New Orleans People of Color Dream Workshop)

1.

People gather, work

together. Aviation

into elder. Bold!

2.

behold. when you swallow

a bronze rainbow, know

that tomorrow there will be sky

3.

Bombs fall all around

I feel afraid but I know

I can carry peace

4.

At birth we hover

Flow from the stomach, again

At death we hover

5.

once we used to fly

thick green jungles, hungry mouths

our years gone, then found

6.

Ancestral Banquet

mashed potatoes; gravy

Dear, you look so well

7.

Heavy shadows lurch

like vines without support

crawl to light, home safe?

8.

spirit blesses you

with eternal reflection

water light and love

9.

Sunday with kin

Open Market. Blackfaces

travel and still home

10.

you will always be

expanse of water and pain

surrender, my love

11.

I don’t dream much. Sleep

comes slowly, dreams slower. But

waking is hardest.

12.

from the fear, I leap

to the waters. Bless and flow

my courage honored

13.

we find salvation

in spaces between cupped palms

over bleeding hearts

14.

red lips punctuate

a legacy of rememberance

ancestral portals

15.

poison coins surged

awake to speak your truth

die to be reborn

The next day I was inspired to completely transform what I was going to say as my keynote address for the Dream Caravan 2015 event and I activated the Dream Stone Oracle that I created for my brother Seneca. Check out the keynote here:

And if you want your own digital copy of After Brightest Star the dream memoir that I mention in the keynote…you can download it here.